D Word, The

Our Rating: L Factor: Lesbian Film Short Take: Spoof of ‘The L Word’ set in New York City. Alternate Titles:
Year: 2005 Duration: 61 min Language: USA/English MPAA: Not Rated	Director: Noelle Brower, Maggie Burkle Writer: Cherien Dabis, Dasha Snyder Starring: Stephen Alexander, Tony Arnaud, Michele Balan, Juliet Vacirca Brown, Sergei Burbank, Emily A. Burton, Sierra Carrere, Andrea Dionne, Marc Forget, Julie Goldman, Marga Gomez, Billicia Charnelle Hines, Jessica Horstman, Donna Coney Island, Jennifer Katz

The D Word Trailer

The L Word’s Hollywood lipstick lesbians and their soap opera lives enjoyed a love/hate relationship with many of us. I for one couldn’t wait to see The D Word, an ‘L Word’ spoof originally created to air on Dyke TV, a New York public access cable program. Organized in six ten minute segments, it made the rounds of the film festivals but is not available on dvd.

The parody takes place in New York City, ‘populated by people who look like people.’ There’s Dot Parker (Marga Gómez, Laughing Matters, In the Life, Fabulous!), the obnoxious type-A partner of clueless Dina Cunnard (Jessica Horstman), who is trying to get pregnant. Drea McClay (Julie Goldman, Out at the Wedding, ‘The Big Gay Show,’ Big Dreams in Little Hope) is the butch slut with cuticle confidence. Daria (Mellyss’ah Mavour) runs a cafe and has a mysterious foreign accent, and Dani Silverman (Meeni Naqvi) arrives in New York to live with her boyfriend Dim (Sergei Burbank), a chess team coach.

The hated Jenny character (Dani) is brilliantly skewered, with so much fodder available, and Gómez is also a standout as the controlling Bette clone. The first few segments were full of laughs as the audience recognized the send-ups of specific scenes and character quirks. Unfortunately after the initial enthusiasm, my friends and I were checking our watches as the production ran out of steam. This would have worked wonderfully as a very funny short (or single episode), but the gags became tiresome at some point after great expectations. (AB)